The present invention relates to a process for the production of ether-linked amine-terminated polyesters and to the polyesters obtained by this process.
Amine terminated polyesters and processes for their production are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,525,521; 4,785,054; and 5,290,848 in which amine terminated polyesters are described as being useful components for coating compositions. These prior art amine terminated polyesters are produced by processes in which the carboxyl groups of an acrylic polymer are reacted with (1) an alkylene imine (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,525,521 and 5,290,848) or an alkyl amine (U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,054) to produce polymers having pendent amino ester groups or (2) ammonia (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,525,521 and 5,290,848) to produce polymers having pendent hydroxy amino ester groups. The conditions required for these processes vary from low temperature, low pressure processes to high pressure processes, depending upon the specific reactants used.